Mommy’s soooo excited! She can’t wait to chronicle all Little Nicholas firsts and pictures on his cute seashells-inspired album. Yup, it isn’t the typical baby album sold in the market. Mommy fell in love with the color and seashells design and of course, it is very practical because it is one of those refillable albums (binder type). Mommy wants to personalize the cover with Little Nicholas’ cute and perfect picture (a collage), and of course Mommy will print pages and pages of Little Nicholas’ firsts in a glossy photo paper and put them in the album too. It will be like a scrapbook and an album in one! Oh boy! Mommy can’t wait to start her project!

So Mommy bought stickers as well. Boys stickers only of course; and yeah, a few scriptures stickers to remind my little angel of God’s never-ending kindness to us. Expectedly, all of Little Nicholas’ ultrasound images will be there too. Hmmm.. Mommy will have to prepare the list of everything that should be in it, like the following:

1. First picture

2. First Breastfeed (uh-uh, Mommy will be exposed!)

3 . First diaper change

4. First car ride

4. First smile

5. First bath by Mommy

6. First New Year celebration

7. First Crawl

8. And more!!!

Maybe you wanna add onto the list. Mommy and Little Nicholas will really appreciate your help on this project. Thanks!

So I wrote about this last Friday, about being ordered to have a complete bed rest for 3-5 days. Well, Mommy just went to a 2 day rest and no more. I can feel Little Nicholas having some rest too. Poor little guy, he’s been stressed up with Mommy all the time. Sad that I can’t pamper myself with a chamomile relaxing soak.

Mommy decided to come to work today. The reasons? Well, for one, I think I’ve had enough rest for 2 days. It’s not as if I can afford a complete bed rest when I’m alone and I have to do everything on my own (cook, clean, buy my vitamins and milk and yes, go to church too). Another reason is that, I will be sitting the whole day at work anyway or I can lie down on the couch if there’s really a need to. And yes, I admit, I can’t afford to miss a day’s salary. I mean, I’m fine, I feel fine, there’s no pain on my tummy anymore (except of course for Little Nico’s kicks). And I feel rejuvenated already for sleeping from 5 hours in the afternoon yesterday (undisturbed) and another 10 hours last night (though I have to wake up every now and then to change position). All in all, it has been a restful weekend.

I will not deny however the fact that, as usual, it was a rather sad weekend. Well, I spent it alone (as Baby Nico can’t talk to me yet) and I never received any text message from my Mama (I guess she’s busy). So I have been alone and lonely again. Another day like that may drive me to depression so I guess I really have to work today huh?

Well, I’m sure my Little Nicholas will support Mommy’s decision, right baby? Mommy promises to be extra careful commuting from home to the office…

Go for a Soak

Grouchy? Can’t sleep? Highly irritable? It’s time for a timeless stress reducer: the long soak in a hot tub. (Hmmm… I wonder when can I do this at my own home when I don’t have my own tub, hahaha!) And for it to be even more relaxing than ever, make it a chamomile tea bath – it’s not only calming, it also smells good! Here’s a free recipe for you:

1. In 4 cups of water on the stove (or in the microwave), boil 4 chamomile tea bags with 5 – 7 sprigs of lavender and 4 tablespoons honey.

2. Let the concoction steep for a few hours, (just about 2-3, make it 4 if you’re not in a hurry)

3. Draw a warm bath. Add to the warm water 4 cups of fresh milk and the well-steeped and filtered (solid bits should be removed using a strainer) chamomile mixture.

4. Soak and enjoy!

What’s The Matter

Nobody alerted you that being forgetful during pregnancy should be taken seriously. You remember parking your car in the garage one night but then one morning, you found the garage empty and you frantically dialed 911 and reported that your garage was broken in and someone stole your car! You told your husband about it and he sympathized with you, even got angry about it. You were talking about changing your locks when the phone rang and your best friend told you she’ll return the car you lend her the other night. She also told you that she’s moved her things now and she’s doing fine, thanks to your car. You were so numb to even answer your friend and you can see that your husband is trying so hard to stop himself from laughing because you had the phone speaker on. To make things worse, you can hear the police car’s siren from the distance. Oh boy! Looks like you’ve reported the crime of the century!

What You Should Do

Swallow your injured ego and laugh with them. Before you get angry about forgetting something as important as that, give yourself an opportunity to see the humor in the situation. Then laugh about it wholeheartedly as you get ready to tell your best friend the silliest pregnancy story ever. It’s really embarrassing and the policemen might even get mad but well, you’re pregnant and you can get away with it!

Why It Works Magic

Laughing along not only relieves the humiliation (just go you go swiftly from being laughed at to laughing with), but it also essentially reduces the levels of stress hormones and intensifies natural feel-good chemicals in your body. And you’ll need those feel-good substances alright when you start feeling the massive bruise on your pride.